When you have a boat that is enjoying a slip in a marina there are certain unwritten rules that should be followed. This will make it better for you and your neighbors.

1. Keep your speed down. People are always in a hurry, whether it's getting on your way first thing in the morning or trying to get back home after a long day being on the water. When you're pulling into the marina slow down and be courteous. Not everyone knows what a spring line does and any wake can send their boat rubbing against the dock. It can also be a safety issue. Someone may be pulling out of a slip as you're pulling in. Stopping a boat is nothing like stopping a car and you may end up with two boats in one slip. That gets crowded fast.

2. Clean your dock. I'm not saying you need to get a broom out and start sweeping the marina. Just keep your area tidy. There is no reason to have your lines strewn all over the dock to create a triping hazard. Coil your lines and shore power cords. Also, if you dock bow in, use good stern lines and keep your pulpit from hanging over the dock. We already know you own a boat, we don't need it to become a pulpit measuring contest.

3. Quiet hours. Some marinas have a lot of liveaboards. Adhere to any posted quiet hours. Sound travels on the water and if your 3am party can be heard across the entire bay, you can bet the boat next to you is plotting how to "accidentally" open your seacock as soon as you go to sleep. Keep maintenance to daylight hours if possible. Running engines or beating on things with a hammer gets loud quickly. This also applies to your electronics. If you're away from your boat for a few hours or more turn off your unneeded electronics and secure any wind generators. The VHF chatter and constant whirring of a windmill can be irritating.

4. Trash. Dispose of your trash in the marina trash cans or below deck. If you want to live like a slob, then live like one in private. If you have old food or other garbage outside it will draw all sorts of animals and birds. Some people may like the soothing colors of bird droppings on their deck, but most don't. Don't leave anything out to attract them.

5. Tighten up your lines. Don't leave any slack in any of the sheets or lines on your boat while you're away. This will not only chafe your lines quickly, but the constant clang, clang, clang of a shackle banging on your mast will drive everyone insane.

Remember everyone is down enjoying their boats, stop by say hi. Introduce yourself with a smile and a handshake, instead of introducing yourself as the annoying guy of the marina.

Recently ASA has added an online intro to sailing course for people that have never sailed or are looking for a refresher after having not sailed for awhile. Learning to sail can be a pretty foreign skill to most people. You can almost look at this as an online driving course for young teenagers. If you’ve never been in a car before you may not realize what those two pedals do in the front seat. What if there are three pedals? You don’t have three legs! This quick course takes around 30 minutes to complete and goes over what you should wear, parts of the modern sailboat and how some basic maneuvers are completed. The videos demonstrate with an ASA instructor how to tack and jibe a sailboat. Turning left and right in a sailboat is a little bit more involved than driving a car. Well it’s not really more involved unless you want to do it without coming to a complete stop. The online course is not designed to give you the knowledge to cut your dock lines and circumnavigate the globe after the 30 minute course. You can be fairly knowledgeable about how to be an effective crewman on a sailboat and contribute to the operation of the sailboat. If you want to just relax and look pretty during the sail you still have the option, you’ll just be able to rest easy knowing if you hear Jibe Ho it’s a command to turn the sailboat and not a reference to your promiscuity.

Well, Lisa and I were back at it again learning about sailing, reading the Annapolis Book of Seamanshipand spending another week on the water in San Diego with San Diego Sailing Academy. The Annapolis Book is a great tomb of information covering the art and science of sailing from basic terminology and sail trim to customs and courtesies on the water. We spent a lot of time reading and re-reading the text and going over the sample questions within the book. When we arrived at Kona Kai Marina the hotel was under construction so unfortunately we were unable to enjoy the hot tub and pool. But the 42' Catalina "Swellbound" was ready for our week long stay. Nick met us at the dock and gave us a quick rundown on the boat and let us get settled in for the night. After dropping off our bags we headed out to the local Ralph's to get some food for the boat. In the morning Mike arrived to give us a shakedown cruise around San Diego bay. It was a nice few hours to knock the rust off our sailing skills and get back in the groove. The next day we took a trip up to Mission Bay which is really just over the hill from San Diego bay by car, but a good 3 to 4 hour sail past the Point Loma Lighthouse and around kelp fields just off shore. We anchored in the bay for the night and returned to Kona Kai the next day and went over coastal cruising lessons and hands on sailing training on the way back. With the instruction portion of the class over Lisa and I were going to travel to North Coronado Island just south of the border and anchor out over night. Due to new paperwork hassles this year with the TIPs we decided to forgo the extra charges and paperwork bother for only one night at anchor and instead decided to look into the Navy Yacht Club of San Diego. The sail down was great and we got some good dock practice while we were there. Unfortunately we didn't get a good feeling about the club. Most workers in the marina didn't know a lot about it in general and when we did find someone who ran the administration portion of the club he informed us that members have to renew in person or online. He then let us know not to trust the online sign up service and told us a story of how someone tried to sign up online for over 2 months and finally had to go in person to resolve the issue. While I'm sure the club would be great if you are stationed in the San Diego area it doesn't sound like it will work for our circumnavigation plans. On the way back to Kona Kai after making the turn West to the marina we were beating directly into the West wind and got a lot of practice tacking on the way. We could have fired up the iron jib, but decided to take the opportunity to get some practice while we were out. The final day ended with another sail around the San Diego bay past the lighthouse and back to the marina. Overall the trip was fantastic. Nick and Mike are great instructors and we always enjoy sailing in San Diego.

Lisa and I spent time sailing the Puget Sound for a few years until 2012 when we were moved to Fort Irwin, CA by the Army. If you're unfamiliar with Fort Irwin, it's in the middle of nowhere and a 45 minute drive just to get to the highway to start going somewhere. We were spoiled living in the Northwest so close to a large body of water to go sailing. Luckily we were around 4 hours from San Diego. The weather is almost always 85 degrees and sunny so it's perfect for year round sailing. We found the San Diego Sailing Academy and signed up for their 7 day ASA 103/104 live-aboard program. We also added the ASA 105 Costal Navigation to our itinerary. We were on the Hunter 30' Boondoggle. We stayed aboard for 7 days and 6 nights. The first 5 days are full of book instruction and hands on training after lunch when the winds normally pick up. You stay at dock the first 4 nights and then have the option to anchor out the last two nights. The private instruction makes for a comfortable course and the instructor was great. SDSA has several boats for instruction and charter. We had another couple come down to take a day sail with us out 4 miles from shore and hove to so we could relax and have a nice lunch on the water. The whole week was a great experience to practice our sailing skills and learn new ones. It was also a fun accomplishment to take a boat out over night and anchor out. If you have time and want to get off the boat for a little while. San Diego has a lot to offer. The Gaslamp quarter is a great attraction with historic hotels, restaurants and is home to the Balboa Civic Theater if you want to catch a performance while you're in town. If you're a military buff the USS Midway museum is not to missed. It contains over 60 exhibits that range from the ship's galley to US aircraft that have launched from her decks. While the perfect temperatures and nearly steady winds make for great sailing year round make sure to get off the dock and see what the city has to offer. You won't be disappointed. SDSA has several boats for charter or you can opt to utilize them for your classes if you're looking into taking some ASA courses. Lisa and I will be taking them out as often as we can to stay proficient, and also to enjoy the beautiful weather away from the middle of the desert.

In 2009 we finally got around to taking our first sailing class. After years of talking about sailing for our retirement and reading about other couples living the dream we signed up for ASA 101 Basic Keelboat Sailing. We were still living near Fort Lewis, WA so did a search of the local sail boat instructors. We decided to go with Puget Sound Sailing Institute. After signing up we received an ASA 101 course book and DVD of instruction in the mail featuring the owner, Mike Rice, to review before our class. It helped to ensure that we weren’t completely ignorant of basic sail terminology. The day of our first on the water class was great. Lisa really enjoyed being at the helm and seemed to have a natural affinity for finding the wind. Our instructor Sandy was very laid back and was always happy to be out on the water teaching new students how to sail for the first time. If you have never been on a sailboat before, ASA 101 covers most of what you need so you don't destroy your boat or someone else's while you’re out on the water. We went over everything from basic knots, using an outboard motor, and docking to raising and reefing the sails. The course spanned five days of on the water instruction followed by the ASA 101 written examination. We were in the class with 2 other students on a Martin 242. It was nice to be in a small class with fellow students that were all trying to learn something new.